Moving reef tank, need all the help I can get!

[Lps_lover12]

So I found myself my first place to rent! Very excited however I have one major fear, moving my tank. It’s on the ground floor and the loading zone is right outside our patio which will help out for sure. The tank is 4ft long by 2ft wide and 16” tall total volume with sump is 100G. This is my plan to do it but need extra help and advice please!

Get about 3 garbage cans mixed and heated about 70-80 gallons in the apartment before I begin. The drive is only about 10 minutes so not too far.

Come back to my tank and start draining some water, once I get quite a few full I will start to take the fish out. Planning on putting my foxface and tang together in one, my clowns and hawkfish and royal gramma in one, then all my wrasses in the last bucket. Then get buckets for all my rock, still not sure what to do with my coral maybe put them all in baggies? drain the rest of the tank, shoot out the sand, dissemble the piping and all equipment and bring it all over to the new place. Quickly get the new sand in and begin filling, once it gets high enough put the rocks in, then coral and finally fish last.

Does this seem like the best way possible? I want to try and make this as easy as possible for the fish and myself as well as keeping the tank in one piece. Any help is greatly appreciated as I’m super nervous for this!

 

[Derrick0580]

Maybe set up a stock tank or tote to hold the fish with a powerhead and heater at the new place. I can imagine it will take several hours before you are ready to put them back into the tank.

 

[Lps_lover12]

Maybe set up a stock tank or tote to hold the fish with a powerhead and heater at the new place. I can imagine it will take several hours before you are ready to put them back into the tank.

That’s a good idea then I won’t have to rush to get the tank filled up

 

[Lps_lover12]

Bump

 

[Lps_lover12]

Bump 2

 

[Reefering1]

When I moved my tank I put rock with corals in 5g buckets with tank water, bare rocks in 30g brute containers filled a bit above half. Netted fish as water level dropped, put a few in each 5g buckets with coral(no rock) . Corals in more 5g buckets with tank water and no rock. Drained remaining water into 2 55g drums, leaving the sand barely covered with water in tank. Moved and had set up within 12 hours, everything survived. If I were to do it over, I would have only used containers that sealed completely. The brutes and lidless buckets spilled water in back of moving truck and I didn't have new water already made. Some would say to wash or replace the sand, i just didn't touch/stir/ remove it or try to remove the dirty looking water at bottom of the 3 year old tank whose sand was not regularly cleaned(that's the good stuff,imo)

 

[littlefoxx]

When I moved my tank we drained the tank into several totes and 5 gallon buckets to make moving easier. Threw an air stone in there with a powerhead for movement, got all the stuff into the tank keeping 60% of the water and then filled it with new saltwater. Tank needed a week to settle, lost the two clownfish and eel the guy had before me by putting them in the tank too soon vs letting them be in the totes for a few days cause it had a huge parameter shift from the move and disturbing the sand and stuff. Not fun, my advice is to just not be in a hurry to get your corals and fish back in and have a different solution for them for about a week or so and just watch your water parameters before putting the fishy friends in! Good luck with the move!

 

[Lps_lover12]

When I moved my tank I put rock with corals in 5g buckets with tank water, bare rocks in 30g brute containers filled a bit above half. Netted fish as water level dropped, put a few in each 5g buckets with coral(no rock) . Corals in more 5g buckets with tank water and no rock. Drained remaining water into 2 55g drums, leaving the sand barely covered with water in tank. Moved and had set up within 12 hours, everything survived. If I were to do it over, I would have only used containers that sealed completely. The brutes and lidless buckets spilled water in back of moving truck and I didn't have new water already made. Some would say to wash or replace the sand, i just didn't touch/stir/ remove it or try to remove the dirty looking water at bottom of the 3 year old tank whose sand was not regularly cleaned(that's the good stuff,imo)

I wanted to get rid of sand so this is the perfect time to do it but it does worry me all the microfauna I will loose and hope it can stabilize itself again. Were you worried about the corals hitting the side of the buckets and damaging them? That my main concern with them not in a bag

 

[Lps_lover12]

When I moved my tank we drained the tank into several totes and 5 gallon buckets to make moving easier. Threw an air stone in there with a powerhead for movement, got all the stuff into the tank keeping 60% of the water and then filled it with new saltwater. Tank needed a week to settle, lost the two clownfish and eel the guy had before me by putting them in the tank too soon vs letting them be in the totes for a few days cause it had a huge parameter shift from the move and disturbing the sand and stuff. Not fun, my advice is to just not be in a hurry to get your corals and fish back in and have a different solution for them for about a week or so and just watch your water parameters before putting the fishy friends in! Good luck with the move!

If you completly replaced the sand do you think that would have saved them? I don’t plan on keeping any of the sand I have and was just going to buy new sand

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I wanted to get rid of sand so this is the perfect time to do it but it does worry me all the microfauna I will loose and hope it can stabilize itself again. Were you worried about the corals hitting the side of the buckets and damaging them? That my main concern with them not in a bag

Get a roll of bubble wrap and line the buckets/totes. Works like a charm!

 

[Reefering1]

I wanted to get rid of sand so this is the perfect time to do it but it does worry me all the microfauna I will loose and hope it can stabilize itself again. Were you worried about the corals hitting the side of the buckets and damaging them? That my main concern with them not in a bag

It would be the perfect time to remove sand. I wouldn't hesitate assuming you have sufficient amount of sufficiently mature rock to carry the bio load once everything is back in place. The corals were perfectly fine in the buckets, not one suffered at all. I did make sure there was no rock to move/smash or rub on them as they get swished around during the ride(same with fish)

 

[Lps_lover12]

Get a roll of bubble wrap and line the buckets/totes. Works like a charm!

Never thought of that, then the corals won’t be hitting the hard plastic! Thanks

 

[Lps_lover12]

It would be the perfect time to remove sand. I wouldn't hesitate assuming you have sufficient amount of sufficiently mature rock to carry the bio load once everything is back in place. The corals were perfectly fine in the buckets, not one suffered at all. I did make sure there was no rock to move/smash or rub on them as they get swished around during the ride(same with fish)

I have about 50lbs of rock so I think it’ll work. My nitrates aren’t high, their too low if anything same with phosphate so that should work in my favour

 

[Reefering1]

I would expect them to drop more if replacing sand... what kind of corals are we talking about here?

 

[Reefering1]

FWIW, idk current standards, but my 180g system has around 220 lbs of rock

 

[Reefering1]

Good, porous, natural rock from ocean. Around 80% of it anyway

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

but it does worry me all the microfauna I will loose

If you really want to, put some or all of the sand in (yet another) container and sift through it after you've got the rest of the livestock settled (or while the tank is clearing up if it gets really cloudy from the new sand). You can leave it in buckets for a little while but will need to add water by the next day to prevent excess die off (and stinkyness!). I used a 20 gallon brute tote and put the sand in there with about 6 inches of old tank water. No heater or pump. Lots of little things crawled to the surface and I plucked them out to put in the new tank. As for the actual biofilter, there should be plenty in your rocks (what if you were changing to bare bottom? You wouldn't have anything from the sand and it would be fine )

When I upgraded my tank I used new sand, rinsed it well to remove dust, and still ended up with a cloudy tank. If you need to clear it up quickly, use a flocculent or a filter like this:

 

[Lps_lover12]

I would expect them to drop more if replacing sand... what kind of corals are we talking about here?

Euphyllia, lobos, mushroom, bubble, open brain, and a plate coral

 

[Reefering1]

If you really want to, put some or all of the sand in (yet another) container and sift through it after you've got the rest of the livestock settled (or while the tank is clearing up if it gets really cloudy from the new sand). You can leave it in buckets for a little while but will need to add water by the next day to prevent excess die off (and stinkyness!). I used a 20 gallon brute tote and put the sand in there with about 6 inches of old tank water. No heater or pump. Lots of little things crawled to the surface and I plucked them out to put in the new tank. As for the actual biofilter, there should be plenty in your rocks (what if you were changing to bare bottom? You wouldn't have anything from the sand and it would be fine )

When I upgraded my tank I used new sand, rinsed it well to remove dust, and still ended up with a cloudy tank. If you need to clear it up quickly, use a flocculent or a filter like this:

Good advice here

 

[Lps_lover12]

If you really want to, put some or all of the sand in (yet another) container and sift through it after you've got the rest of the livestock settled (or while the tank is clearing up if it gets really cloudy from the new sand). You can leave it in buckets for a little while but will need to add water by the next day to prevent excess die off (and stinkyness!). I used a 20 gallon brute tote and put the sand in there with about 6 inches of old tank water. No heater or pump. Lots of little things crawled to the surface and I plucked them out to put in the new tank. As for the actual biofilter, there should be plenty in your rocks (what if you were changing to bare bottom? You wouldn't have anything from the sand and it would be fine )

When I upgraded my tank I used new sand, rinsed it well to remove dust, and still ended up with a cloudy tank. If you need to clear it up quickly, use a flocculent or a filter like this:

I’d be too worried about getting stung by a dang bristleworm to sift through it! I will check that out because I know it’s going to get quite cloudy and I want to clear it up as quick as possible so the fish can get back to their home